Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday enjoyed a highly bullish activity aided by handsome corporate earnings and ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review that would unlock the second loan tranche of $700 million.
In the morning, the trading session began at the intra-day low of 50,971.84 points but it gradually started gaining momentum and moved upwards as the prevailing positive sentiment provided support.
Investor optimism was driven by reports of $97.2 billion worth of agreements at the Belt and Road Forum and strong earnings announcements by the banking sector.
The index remained in the green throughout the session, touching the intra-day high of 51,501.82 in the final trading hour. It closed near that level with substantial gains.
“Stocks closed bullish in an earnings season rally and ahead of IMF talks this week that will pave the way for release of a $700 million installment next month,” said Arif Habib Corp MD Ahsan Mehanti.
“Reports of $97.2 billion worth of pacts at the Belt and Road Forum, strong earnings announcements in the banking sector and State Bank’s expectations of improvement in inflows played the role of catalysts in bullish close of the market.”
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index registered gains of 539.09 points, or 1.06%, and settled at 51,482.93.
Topline Securities, in its market review, wrote that Pakistan equities commenced the week on a strong note. “The index began the day positively, remained in the green throughout the trading hours and settled at 51,483 ahead of monetary policy announcement in the evening,” it said.
Power, fertiliser, cement and banking-sector stocks contributed positively to the index where Hub Power, Dawood Hercules, Lucky Cement, United Bank and Meezan Bank added 267 points, Topline added.
Arif Habib Limited (AHL) commented that the PSX saw a strong start to the week with the KSE-100 trading at the upper end of its 50.5k to 51.5k range.
“Key index movers were Hub Power (+2.26%), Dawood Hercules (+5.11%), Lucky Cement (+3.3%) and United Bank (+1.92%),” it said, adding that Air Link Communications (+4.56%) gained ground following plans to start manufacturing Xiaomi smart TVs.
Overall trading volumes decreased to 286.6 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 350.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.4 billion.
Shares of 351 companies were traded. Of these, 232 stocks closed higher, 100 fell and 19 remained unchanged.
Pakistan Refinery was the volume leader with trading in 32.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.95 to close at Rs19.30. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 20.3 million shares, losing Rs0.48 to close at Rs4.14 and WorldCall Telecom with 15.2 million shares, losing Rs0.02 to close at Rs1.29.
Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth Rs241.4 million, according to the NCCPL.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2023.
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